garage workshop ideas

Garage Workshop Ideas

Woodworkers come in a wide spectrum of types, from the completely organized to the completely scattered. Organizing your woodworking shop so that you can find all your tools when you need them, and have room to work, will enhancing your personal style and enjoyment.

How to set up woodworking shop should be determine using your own personalized decisions. There is no single right way, so set it up using your own individualized needs and inclination, don't let anyone influence you into making choice that are not what you want, it's your workshop build it your way.

The Two-Car Wood Shop reverts into a garage at night and all woodworking materials, tools and equipment are stored along the perimeter walls. This can consume 30-40 linear feet of wall at an average depth of 18 inches. In most garage configurations this will still allow one wall for storage of non-woodworking possessions, should there be any.

Storing a shop this tightly can't be achieved in haphazard steps - it requires a strategy. Periodic restructuring is possible but not an effective use of time or materials, so a good set of guiding concepts is called for. Everything in the shop has storage characteristics: bulk, weight, frequency of use, susceptibility to damage or dust, etc. If space is allocated by such characteristics then the shop can expand comfortably as more equipment is acquired.

In 2007, I moved to a different city. So, I needed to set up a new
workshop at my new place. My old workshop was in a garage, but this
time, I put the workshop in the basement. Initially, I figured this
would be an interim measure until I could build a building for the
workshop. But with the harsher Ottawa climate, I realized that having a
basement workshop does have the advantage that I don't have to heat it
up before going in there. This means that it's worth going in there for
just 20 minutes of tinkering here and there, even in the winter.

The shop you see in the layout is my current setup and has evolved over
many years to accommodate most importantly the acquisition of newer
equipment but also better work flow. It is a free standing 2 story
Gambrel style barn with office and storage space on the second level.
Lumber and supplies are moved in and out of the shop through the front
overhead door. To the left of the door are the lumber and plywood
storage racks. Across from the lumber rack and to the right of the
overhead door is the radial arm saw, miter saw and mortiser utilizing a
single fence system for all operations.